England
Coffee and Cake Afternoon
July 24, 2009, in Leicester, United Kingdom
As part of International Sarcoma Awareness week, the East Midlands Sarcoma Service held a second event, a ‘Coffee and Cake’ afternoon, in aid of The Sarcoma Trust. This exciting event was held on the 24th July 2009 in the Oncology Centre at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. We had about 100 visitors, including patients, families and staff who purchased our delicious home made cakes, cookies and muffins! An information stand was also set up to raise awareness and inform people about sarcomas. We also sold many ‘Sarcoma knows no Borders’ wristbands. A total of £220.00 was raised this event which was a great success.
In its first year, Team Sarcoma East Midlands Sarcoma Service has raised total of £1530.00 from the ‘Dine India’ and ‘Coffee and Cake’ events. Both events were a huge success not just in raising funds, but it was also great fun, it brought people together and it helped spread the word around about sarcomas. The Team would like to say a big thank you to all those people who were so generous in contributing to such a worthwhile cause.
England
A Stroll and a Picnic for Sarcoma
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Dorset, United Kingdom
The Sarcoma South UK Support Group hosted a picnic together at Moors Valley Country Park on Sunday, July 19. The country park is in Dorset in south of England, and people came from many areas of the south and west and even the Midlands. There was a total of 19 people, 11 of whom were sarcoma patients. The event was organised by some members of the recently established Sarcoma South UK Support group: Terri, Sheila, Jan and Tricia.
On arrival we commandeered two large picnic tables and moved them near to some large shrubs to protect us from the buffeting winds – it was “blowing a Hooley” as we say in UK. We are made of stern stuff as we have all grown up being able to enjoy picnics in the most inclement of weathers: it is part of being British. We laid out a tablecloth and weighed it down with many bottles of Cava, a white sparkling wine. We added the makings of a Dorset Cream Tea which were fruited scones, thick clotted cream and fine raspberry and strawberry jams and we welcomed friends as they arrived. People brought additions to the picnic, all manner of savoury and sweet treats, it really was a feast. Some items became airborne and the foxes must have dined well that evening.
Across the picnic field a jazz band was providing background music as we caught up with old friends and made new friends and chatted to each other. The time sped by and soon we had to start packing everything up. Some people had long drives ahead of them. We would not have all got together if not for the Team Sarcoma Initiative. We renewed and made new friendships, which is so important in this sometimes lonely disease.
England
Charity Buffet Night
Monday, June 29, at 8:00 p.m.
Team Sarcoma / UK Leicester offered a buffet dinner at Dine India in Countesthorpe, Leicestershire. The event was a huge success. Ninety people attended, including patients, families, village locals, and the sarcoma team (surgeon, clinic coordinators and nurses). More than £1300.00 was raised.
[Due to scheduling issues, this Team Sarcoma event was held outside of the International Sarcoma Awareness Week.]
England
UPDATE: 51 people attended this event!
What: Group Weekend and Walk
When: July 11-14, 2008
Where: Disley, United Kingdom
Team Sarcoma UK is a weekend event involving sarcoma patients and their families, those who are supporting friends and colleagues who are patients with a sarcoma. Our hope is that by the time the weekend finishes everyone will have made new friends, exchanged news, and enjoyed themselves. This is the second time there has been a Team Sarcoma event in the UK and we are hoping to attract public attention through the media and with the wider cancer support community. Sarcoma UK are the co-ordinators of the UK event.
The central event of the weekend will be a cross-country walk. There is a choice of two distances (4 or 8 miles) in the Peak District on Sunday 13th. Those wishing to use this walk as a sponsored event to raise money for The Sarcoma Trust are invited to do so – the walk will be monitored and certified for sponsorship.
England
Report from Roger: Team Sarcoma UK was a fantastic weekend of companionship and a simple but prominent way of carrying our message out into the community.
Most of the 44 people who were staying for the weekend had never met each other before. Most people had been through (and many are either still going through or about to go through) the nightmare that is sarcoma. Within hours of arriving at the hotel we were together in a room for a buffet dinner seated at large round tables. In no time at all it seemed we had all known each other for years – there was a warmth and friendliness that seemed totally out of place in a room full of enormous horror stories lurking in the background.
Peter, one of our email list moderators, says “We just bonded instantly and I lost count of the number of people who said to me ‘I can’t believe this’. “
We ate, drank and talked till late. The children that came were just perfect – all happy, well behaved and great fun to be with. The young, the old, black and white, gay and straight, patients and carers all reacted as if they were part of a very close family. There is no way to explain it any better. There were no awkward moments – but there were some emotional moments. You cannot escape those and they are an important part of coming together.
Saturday was organised for those who wanted to stay local whilst others trotted off to do their own thing. The organized walk took us along the Agatha Christie mile on Torquay seafront, past places she knew as a child and as an adult, hotels she visited, and gardens in which her fictional murders took place. After finding lunch for ourselves we then gathered again and walked the short distance to Cockington Country Park – a warm up walk for the following day. The sun shone and the sea glistened blue, the countryside was delightful and there was a cricket match on the lawns in front of Cockington House. Beautifully English and well worthy of the cream tea. More bonding and talking took place on Saturday evening at dinner.
And so to Sunday and the big event. Some of those who completed the eight mile walk from Brixham to Torquay were amazing – and some who competed the shorter walk (the last half) were equally amazing. The first half of the walk was along cliffs and through woodland, in steady rain. It was often slippery underfoot and coupled with a few steep climbs the conditions slowed us down but we still made the halfway point only 20 minutes later than originally estimated. There were 36 of us on the first part and a further 24 joined for the second part, including the delightful 8 year old Nicole, paralysed from the waist down after a botched diagnostic procedure for a sarcoma on her spine. Apart from Nicole (escorted by her father Allan) three artificial knees and one pacemaker completed the walk, along with 21 sarcoma patients, and ten other children (the youngest not yet 3 years old).
At the end of the walk we raised our Sarcoma Knows No Borders wristbands high and waved a greeting to all the other Team Sarcoma participants around the world.
We all went to the evening buffet dinner celebration that night on a high. Certificates were awarded to all who attended and there was a quiz organized by Brian Lewis and won by a team calling themselves the ‘Veggie Table” – how was it that so many know-alls managed to seat themselves at the same table!!
It was a wonderful weekend making the word sarcoma more public than ever before. It helped to launch The Sarcoma Trust (a registered UK charity) which will be the focus for fund-raising for research alongside Sarcoma UK’s support and information work. Both local radio stations in Devon carried interviews with Brian and the local paper reported on the walk too. Several of those attending also succeeded in getting their local papers to report the story.
Although it is too early to be definite about the funds raised for sarcoma research we anticipate that, after tax refunds which can be claimed by The Sarcoma Trust, we will have raised over £4000 (over US$8000).
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Cricket at Cockington Hall
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After the walk, including non-walking supporters
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Walking down a wooded cliff path in the rain
